Winnetka Ex-Marine Sentenced to 52 Months in Prison for Defrauding Investors

CHICAGO, IL - A Winnetka ex-Marine who pleaded guilty last year to fraud for running a scam hedge fund profiting off of fellow veterans received a 52 month prison sentence in federal court Tuesday. Clayton Cohn, a New Trier High School graduate currently enrolled at DePaul University, was also ordered to pay more than $1.5 million to victims of his company, most of whom were Cohn's friends from the Marines, his former partner told the Chicago Tribune.

Cohn only really invested less than half of the money he raised, hid his losses and used the rest of the money to "support his lavish lifestyle," according to a federal complaint. Prosecutors said Cohn, who faced up to 20 years in prison, raised $1.8 million by lying to investors and lost nearly all of that money in the process.

While Cohn actually did invest some of the money he raised in various real projects, like a 3-D adult film business or a friend's hair extension startup, he also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on himself, lied to the government in securities filings and continually misled investors about his financial prowess, according to an SEC complaint.

Read the full federal wire fraud indictment below: